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Clear Valley by Muso Soseki (1275 - 1351) Timeline English version by W. S. Merwin Original Language Japanese Buddhist : Zen / Chan 14th Century The water that can't be muddied      with any stick           is deeper than depth The sky and the water      are a single           deepening blue If you really want to find      the source of the Sixth Patriarch's           fountain don't look for it      on the one bank or the other           or in the middle of the stream     -- from Sun at Midnight: Muso Soseki - Poems and Sermons, Translated by W. S. Merwin / Translated by Soiku Shigematsu Amazon.com   / Photo by net_efekt /	Themes   Sky   Water       Recommended Books East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin Roaring Stream: A New Zen Reader, Edited by Nelson Foster / Edited by Josh Shoemaker Sun at Midnight: Muso Soseki - Poems and Sermons, Translated by W. S. Merwin / Translated by Soiku Shigematsu
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

I won't try to offer much commentary here, just a little set up. Muso Soseki has confronted us a good koan-like image to work with. Best to sit with riddle until the mind gives up... that's when the answer comes.

The water here is pure mind, Buddha mind. It is by its nature empty -- or, perhaps a better way to say that, is that it is spacious, all-permeating. No 'thingness' obstructs it... it can't be "muddied" no matter what apparently passes through it.

The Sixth Patriarch is Hui-neng (Eno in Japanese), usually considered the last patriarch of early Chinese Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism. His insights and teachings were particularly powerful in the development of Zen practice in Japan.

So we have the water. And we are seeking the Sixth Patriarch's fountain or source of the water. But Muso Soseki teasingly tells us we won't find it "on the one bank or the other / or in the middle of the stream." Where then is the source found?

(As I was contemplating this poem, it started raining heavily outside... water everywhere...)

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
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